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Ke$ha - Animal

By Nick Manteris · 1 Comments · Leave a Comment

Ke$ha has appeared out of what seems like nowhere with an electropop dance album that sounds surprisingly fresh …considering the fact it took seven years to complete. She’s even incorporated the phrase “hot mess” (which she uses twice in the first three songs) to simultaneously prove her relevance and provide a tenuous link to fellow tongue-in-cheekers Cobra Starship, who, it must be said, have just been one-up’d by a little “garbage-chic” girl. (Ashley Tisdale’s song “Hot Mess” actually predates Cobra Starship’s album/song by about two weeks, but the silly fun of the latter artist has much more in common with Ke$ha.) Also, before we get too far, it should be pointed out that the correct way to pronounce her name rhymes with “fresh•uh.” There are undoubtedly many of you out there that are mistakenly calling her “keh•cha-ching•hah,” but it really needs to stop. (Yes, surely you were already aware that the proper way to pronounce “$”is “cha-ching.”)

Ke$ha wisely employs Dr. Luke on more than a few of the songs on Animal, including the first single, “Tik Tok,” a track that will surely grow old long before the radios stop playing it, even though it’s still fluffy and cute at the moment. (Benny Blanco also helps out on this track.) Surprisingly, even though he helps out on seven songs, the only other Dr. Luke song worth mentioning is “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes,” which also employs the talents of the Bird and the Bee’s Greg Kurstin. 3OH!3 help out on “Blah Blah Blah,” another one of the better tracks on the album and the final noteworthy song is the embarrassingly fun “Boots and Boys.” (You will not, however, no matter how catchy I think it is, ever catch me singing “Boots and Boys” though.) On the flip side, the song “Blind” is skippable and the stalker-esque “Stephen” is very difficult to listen to. It really seems like $he could have found a few more better-than-average tunes to stick on this album instead of the so-so ones that were included…especially since the 14 tracks that made it to Animal were supposedly chosen from 200 songs that $he had written.

Score

69%

The comparisons to Lady Gaga are already rampant across the internet, but Ke$ha doesn't really have that much in common with her musically. Some more appropriate comparisons are the aforementioned Cobra Starship, maybe Amanda Blank and Katy Perry or possibly Le Tigre. There is an extensive list of influences on Ke$ha's MySpace page (my attention span unfortunately couldn’t make it through the full list) and claims that her music sounds like “god having an orgasm.” That should give you some idea about what to expect from Animal and tell you how seriously Ke$ha takes herself.

Oh, btw: Kesha, if you want to come hang out in Vegas I will totally go boot shopping with you before we go out for the night…and I promise not to shave.

Tags: Music, Nick, Amanda Blank, Benny Blanco, candy pop, Cobra Starship, Dr. Luke, electropop, Greg Kurstin, Katy Perry, Kesha, Lady Gaga, Le Tigre, Max Martin, pop, The Bird and the Bee